To get the best medical services, Uganda has to privatize its health system. Uganda should sell Mulago and other worthless medical facilities around the country and take the money squandered in maintaining the worthless hospital system and turn it into a National Health Insurance for those who don’t have insurance. Believe you me, you will see the magic of capitalism transforming the poor health system into an exemplary international standard health system.

Wandugu, let me disclose something. I , like many young people who grew up in the 70’s, was a staunch socialist. i believed in marxist ideology purified by Nkrumahism which was called scientific socialism. I believed a government could solve human problems and provide for its masses. But as the saying goes, if you are young and never been a socialist, you have no heart and if you are grown and old and still a socialist, you have no brain.

I finally grew out of my socialistic utopia and came to realize the importance of individual initiative. After independence, Uganda embarked on socialistic approach and built parastatal bodies like Uganda Airline, Uganda Hotels, Commercial banks etc , all of which were littered with corruption and did not produce a single profit.

Fast forward to late 1980’s when everything were privatized. Transportation was a problem especially with poorly run UTC, but private transporters like bodabodas and matatus solved the problem. Postal services and phone services were inefficient but competition from private companies improved services. Even more, competition among service providers like Celltel, Mango, etc resulted in lower fees to the benefit of consumers.

If the medical entity in Uganda is privatized, competition between medical health providers will improve the delivery and quality of medical care. Someone asked what about the poor people who can’t afford the medical facilities. My answer is that the government should invest its health budget into a universal health insurance to cover those who are not covered because they don’t have a job that provides health insurance or if they are disabled. These patient will choose a clinic/ hospital of their choice and produce a government insurance card which will pay for the services. Then you will see the” Miracle Of Capitalism”.

I’m speaking from experience. I work in medical field in the USA. This is the model that US is trying to perfect with recent Obama’s initiative of Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. This is the system the world is envies, much better than Canada or Britain. The only thing was missing was the coverage of the unemployed people which Obamacare now addresses.A privatized healthcare system has existed for a long in the US. The elderly and the disabled have always been covered under Medicaid coverage. Obamacare comes in to cover the rest who fall between the cracks. Those young ones who may not have a job are now covered by Obamacare.

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